Miami Medical Malpractice Attorney

Helping Victims of Medical Malpractice Throughout the State of Florida

Far too often people in Florida and throughout the U.S. are harmed by the very doctors, nurses and other health care professionals they trust to care for their health and well-being. Tragically, medical errors cause more than 250,000 deaths or approximately 10% of all deaths in the U.S. each year, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. This is in addition to the thousands of serious non-fatal injuries negligent doctors, nurses and other health care professionals cause each year.

At Boyers Law Group, our Miami medical malpractice attorneys believe that these negligent doctors, nurses and other health care providers should be held accountable for the harm they inflict on patients and their families. Over the years, we have litigated a wide variety of medical negligence cases and have achieved millions of dollars of compensation for the seriously injured patients and families whom we have had the privilege of representing. We would be honored to talk with you about a potential medical malpractice claim and help in any way we can.

 

What Constitutes Medical Malpractice in Florida?

According to the Florida Statutes, medical malpractice occurs when health care professionals breach the prevailing standard of care owed to their patients. In other words, when a doctor, nurse or other health care provider is negligent and fails to act as a reasonably prudent medical provider of the same specialty would act and causes a patient to suffer serious injury or wrongful death, the doctor, nurse or hospital may be held legally responsible for inflicting harm on his or her patients.

Unfortunately, there are numerous types of malpractice that careless health care providers can commit. Doctor error, nursing error, radiologist error, medical technician or hospital error can, for example, result in these types of medical malpractice cases:

• Failing to Listen to the Patient –Taking a complete medical history from a patient is critical to correct diagnoses. If doctors do not listen to you or do not take a complete medical history and you are harmed as a result, they could be held liable for medical malpractice.
• Medication Errors/Medication Malpractice – Medication errors can cause severe adverse reactions and complications. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured by a medication error, you may be able to hold the responsible parties accountable for their negligence and get compensated for your injuries with a medical malpractice claim.
• Operative Errors/Surgeon Malpractice – There are inherent risks in surgery, even when performed properly. However, when surgeons and surgery teams do not do everything possible to avoid increasing the risks of surgery, their negligence and errors can cause significant injuries.
• Wrong Side Surgery – When surgeons operate on the wrong body part or wrong side of the body, (e.g. orthopedic surgeons cutting open the right leg when surgery was supposed to be on the left leg; brain surgeons cutting open the left side of the brain when the tumor is on the right side; surgeons removing the wrong breast of a woman suffering from breast cancer) patients can suffer numerous serious complications.
• Retained Medical Instrument or Devices – When foreign objects are left inside patients after surgery, great harm can result. Doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists and the entire surgical team may be found liable for negligence when this unfortunate but preventable event occurs.
• Failing to Properly Monitor the Patient Post-Operatively – When patients are not closely monitored after surgery, terrible harm may occur. Healthcare providers have an obligation to observe and listen to their patients, monitor their vital signs and study lab results in order to prevent or treat serious problems and complications. If they fail to properly monitor their patients following surgery and problems do occur, they could be found liable for medical negligence.
• Nursing Negligence/Nurse Malpractice – Nurses have an obligation to properly carry out doctors’ orders, administer medication and therapies, observe and listen to patients and report their observations promptly and accurately, calling doctors when needed. If nurses are not vigilant, patients suffer. When this suffering results in a serious injury, the negligent nurse may be held liable for medical malpractice.
• Anesthesia Errors/Anesthesia Malpractice – Anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists have a grave responsibility in making sure that a patient is medically stable and fit for non-emergency surgery and stable throughout emergency surgery, as well as monitoring and helping to regulate heart and respiratory functions during any surgery under general anesthesia. When anesthesiologists are negligent and commit malpractice, the consequences are usually very serious.
• Radiologist Error/Radiologist Malpractice – When radiologists misinterpret x-rays, mammograms, CT scans and MRI’s, among other radiological scans, patients can suffer serious or deadly consequences. If a radiologist’s misinterpretation results in a misdiagnosis that has serious health consequences for a patient, the radiologist may be liable for medical malpractice.
• Failure to Diagnose or a Delay in Diagnosing a Medical Condition – Doctors should listen to their patients, examine them carefully and order specific tests, depending on the presenting signs and symptoms. If doctors are negligent in these areas and their delay or failure in diagnosing a medical condition harms a patient, the doctor could be liable for medical malpractice.
• Failure to Diagnose or a Delay in Diagnosing Infections – When doctors do not promptly diagnose and treat an infection, patients can suffer with pain, fever and other symptoms. If doctors totally miss diagnosing an infection, patients can end up with very serious, life-threatening conditions, such as kidney failure, toxic shock syndrome, necrotizing fasciitis and sepsis.
• Failure to Diagnose or a Delay in Diagnosing Cancer – When a doctor fails to listen to a patient’s health concerns, fails to do a complete physical exam, fails to order necessary diagnostic tests or fails to examine test results, patients can require life-altering medical interventions to treat their cancer or face a poor prognosis. The negligent doctor could potentially be held liable for medical malpractice.
• Failure to Diagnose Heart Attacks and Strokes – When doctors and nurses miss the clear signs and symptoms of heart attacks or strokes and fail to give people the emergency care they need, tragic consequences can occur. The negligent doctors and nurses can be liable for the resulting harm due to medical malpractice.
• Failure to Diagnose Aneurysms – Early detection and treatment greatly improve a patient’s chances of surviving an aneurysm. Accordingly, doctors can be liable for medical malpractice when they fail to diagnose aneurysms or aortic dissections.
• Obstetrical Malpractice/Birth Injury Malpractice – When doctors and nurses do not monitor expectant mothers and their babies closely during pregnancy, labor, delivery and immediately after delivery, serious injuries with lifelong consequences can occur. A medical malpractice claim can hold negligent doctors and nurses liable for the harm resulting from their negligence.
• Blood Transfusion Errors – Blood transfusion errors occur for many reasons. When doctors, nurses and hospitals cause a preventable blood transfusion error, patients can be seriously, even fatally, injured. The at fault health care providers can and should be held legally responsible.
• Kidney Dialysis Errors – Each year, people die or are injured unnecessarily due to negligence or medical errors committed during their treatment for kidney disease. Medication errors, falling, vascular access-related events, dialyzer errors, excess blood loss, malfunctioning or improperly cared for dialysis machines, improper responses to machine alarms, dialysate errors and failing to monitor blood pressure are all examples of medical malpractice that injures kidney dialysis patients.
• Orthopedist Malpractice – When orthopedic surgeons make mistakes, patients can suffer irreparable damage. Failing to diagnose and treat fractured bones, tendon ruptures, cartilage or ligament tears, nerve compression or nerve impingement, for example, can result in serious physical problems, as can incorrect placement of orthopedic hardware and casts. When orthopedists make these kinds of mistakes, they should be held accountable for medical malpractice.
• Medical Device Defects or Failures/Negligent Maintenance of Monitoring Devices or Other Medical Machinery – When medical devices are inserted improperly or not maintained properly or when a surgeon does not follow a manufacturer’s instructions or warnings and a patient is injured, a malpractice action may be appropriate. When a medical device malfunctions due to a defect in the device, a product liability action may be called for.

 

Our Commitment to Florida Medical Malpractice Victims

Medical malpractice cases are usually very complex. Proving that a doctor, nurse or other healthcare provider was negligent and breached the accepted standard of care requires relentless investigation, total command of the facts of each case, top flight expert testimony and determined, thorough use of the civil discovery process and tools at the trial lawyer’s disposal.

In order to amass the evidence necessary to prevail in malpractice cases, our team of experienced medical malpractice lawyers and paralegals is committed to leaving no stone unturned. We take detailed, rigorous depositions of the defendants and adverse experts, make exhaustive requests for key documents, send well-crafted written interrogatories to the defendants, use document authenticity experts when we believe documents have been falsified or altered and work with top experts in every medical specialty.

Our skilled lawyers, paralegals and medical investigators work together as a team to achieve the best possible results at trial or to achieve a very favorable settlement for our clients. One of our partners serves as lead counsel on every Florida malpractice case we handle, and we use all of our firm’s experience, talent, hard work and resources to prove that the health care defendants are wrong and our clients are right and justly entitled to a substantial compensatory verdict in their favor.
 

Florida Medical Malpractice Attorneys with the Trial Experience You Need and Results You Want

If you or a family member has been seriously injured by medical negligence or error, you need a skilled trial attorney with successful experience in litigating, trying and effectively negotiating top settlements in medical malpractice cases. At Boyers Law Group, we are committed to putting our experience, knowledge, skill and resources to work for you, fighting vigorously to hold the health care providers accountable for negligence and to obtain the substantial compensation you deserve.

We feel a deep sense of responsibility to each client because we know that if you come to us for help, you have suffered a terrible loss and deserve answers and all the compensation the law will allow. Please call us at 305-512-7600 or submit the “Tell Us What Happened” form on our website to get expert advice from an experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney.

 

Helpful Resources

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2020, June). Patient safety network issue brief: Operational measurement of diagnostic safety.
https://www.ahrq.gov/news/operational-measurement.html

Austin M., & Derk, J. (2019, May). Lives lost, lives saved: An updated comparative analysis of avoidable deaths at hospitals graded by The Leapfrog Group.
https://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org/media/file/Lives-Saved-White-Paper-FINAL.pdf